


Just My Cup of Tea

by lifeinskinnyjeans



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-17
Updated: 2014-03-11
Packaged: 2017-12-20 10:49:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/886382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lifeinskinnyjeans/pseuds/lifeinskinnyjeans
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jayne Shepard works as a hotel receptionist and Garrus Vakarian is a tourist in London, England.  Jayne invites Garrus for a cup of tea after her shift on the rainy Tuesday evening after Garrus arrives, but it's never just a cup of tea, is it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. rainy tuesday evening

The bell above the door of The President Hotel rung, signaling to the blonde receptionist at the desk that someone had entered the facility. She looked up to see a turian having trouble keeping the glass door open wide enough to pull his suitcase through but not squish the backpack slung over one shoulder and also keep the summer rain off the front carpet. The blonde set her pen down on the card she was writing to her mother and stood to help the struggling turian.

She walked over to him, straightened her skirt, and stood behind him to hold the door open. Her thin fingers were white at the knuckles from holding the glass away from the turian as he dragged his suitcase inside and ducked under her arm. She released the door and gave him a warm smile, which he returned with a flick of his mandibles. "Thank you," he breathed. "It's kind of nasty outside."

"Welcome to London in the summer," the blonde answered in her native accent. She saw it intrigued the turian because he flicked his mandibles again, not as noticeably as before, but she still picked it up. She gestured towards her desk. "Let me check you in. Do you have a reservation?"

The turian shook his head. "No, Miss...?" He trailed off, the end of the sentence hanging in a question.

"Shepard. May I have your name, please?" She sat back down at her desk and poised her hands over her computer's keyboard.

"Garrus Vakarian."

Her manicured fingernails clacked over the keys as she entered the name. "And how long will you be staying with us, Mr. Vakarian?" Jayne returned her green eyes to the turian.

"My return flight - well, the first one - leaves Friday morning. What's the checkout time here?"

"11 am."

"That might work out, actually, because I think the flight is scheduled to leave later in the afternoon."

"And is the Friday the upcoming one?"

"No, the Friday after that." Garrus' mandibles flicked as he smiled. "Extended vacation," he said to Jayne's raised eyebrows.

"Well, I'm sure you won't be without something to do for the duration of your stay." She gave him another warm smile before standing up and taking a key out of a small box in the back of a desk drawer. She turned to unlock the glass case of keys and pulled one down off the third row, locking the case and placing the key back in its box before handing the key to Garrus. "Room 313, third floor, just down the hall from the elevator. It'll be on your right," she said.

"Thanks." Making sure he could hold onto the key along with his luggage, he turned back to Jayne before he went up to his room. "Is that a native London accent?"

She gave him another warm smile. It was a deciding factor in her getting the job two years ago. "Yes, sir, I've lived here all my life."

"I don't think I've ever had anyone call me sir."

"Well I take the pleasure of being the first. May I ask where you're coming from?"

"Sacramento."

"I've never been to California."

"Ever been to the States?"

"Oh, yes, a few times. Only to the east coast, though. Big cities like New York and Philadelphia. And once to a small town in Ohio that I can't remember the name of. But it doesn't matter. I'm sure it's beautiful there. Can you see the water from where you live?"

Garrus shook his head. "No, Sacramento is much too far inland. Practically center of the state. The water's a two hour drive from me, I think. I dunno, it's been a while since I was at the beach."

"Shows how much I know about United States geography. It was never my strong-suit when I was in school." A soft chuckle bubbled over her lips, stretching them into another smile. The bell over the door rang and Jayne looked away from her conversation to see a family of three running in from a taxi. "I'm sorry, but I do have a job to do. Why don't you go get settled in your room and I can meet you in the lounge after my shift?"

"What time did you have in mind?" Garrus asked, intrigued.

"Eight?"

"I'll see if I can manage to stay awake."

"Right, jet lag, I forgot. If you need a day to settle in, that's fine. I'll be right here."

Garrus nodded. "Expect me anyway."

Jayne smiled again. "I'm looking forward to it already." The family had finally pulled in all their luggage and belongings and paid the taxi driver and was walking up to the desk after shaking off most of the rain under the small canopy over the door. Garrus smiled as the elevator opened its doors to take him up two floors.

What Jayne assumed to be the father placed a hand on the small counter above the desk. "Afternoon." His thick Scottish accent rang in her ears.

"Good afternoon, sir. How may I help you?"

"Looking for a room for my family and I for a week."

"How many in your party, sir?"

"Three."

Jayne scrolled through room descriptions on her computer. "We have a room on the sixth floor with two double beds, or one on the second floor with a double bed and a cot." She looked at the family expectantly.

The assumed father turned to converse quietly with what Jayne assumed was his wife for a few moments before turning back to Jayne. She could just barely see the top of the head of a child over the desk. The child could not have been more then five years old, so Jayne discreetly poised her mouse pointer over the second floor room. "We'll take the two double beds."

"Alright, just one moment, please." Jayne clicked on the sixth floor room and stood up to pull the key out of the glass case. She placed it on the desk next to the mouse and turned back to the father. "Your name, sir?"

"John Bryant."

"Thank you." After a few moments, Jayne stood again and handed the key to the man. "Here you are, room 604, just down the hall from the elevator on your left. You should be able to see it from the doors."

"Thank you," the man said with a curt nod. His wife also nodded at her before she herded their child towards the elevator, carting their suitcases behind them. Jayne watched the family struggle to hold the doors open to get the overpacked suitcases inside, and the child began to wail when the door alarm sounded. When the elevator had finally taken up the family, Jayne took a moment to lean back in her chair.

 _What am I doing? I've never been that way with a client before...Nothing could go wrong with a cup of tea, though...right?_  Jayne just sighed, shook her head to clear it, and focused on finishing the card to her mother before the next person stepped into the hotel and out of the rain.


	2. could be either one

Garrus glanced at the digital clock on the nightstand after he had situated himself in his room. The room was quite more luxurious than he originally thought. The queen-sized mattress was bedecked in palest yellows and grays in such a shade that reminded the turian of the color of the clouds still spitting down rain outside. The three throw pillows in shades just one or two darker than the sheets made a beautiful contrast against the rainy backdrop and the sheets themselves. The closet was roomy and the bathroom was porcelain white and spotless, making it almost hard to see into the room with the bright lights. Despite the curtains being wide open, the gray rainclouds shadowed the streets below and Garrus still had to turn on the lights bolted above the nightstand. The clock's glowing red numbers told him that he had forty-five minutes until he was to meet the receptionist at the hotel lounge.

Then it occurred to Garrus that he wasn't sure what he was meeting her for. This was London, so it could very well be a simple cup of tea, but there was the same probability that he would be meeting her for a beer. A small shrug of his shoulders in the bathroom mirror told himself that he was ready for either, or whatever she might throw at him. He decided to keep in the light cloth armor he had traveled in and just spend the next half hour relaxing on his bed and trying not to fall asleep.

Then, on second thought, if he was afraid of falling asleep, it might do him good to get down to the lounge where there would be people. He could probably find some way to pass a half hour before he was to meet the receptionist. It also occurred to Garrus then that he wasn't privy to her first name and found himself drawing a blank when it came to the name she had told him when he had arrived a few hours before. After the mental kick, the turian gathered his room key and the money he had hastily exchanged after he had stepped off the plane and left, making sure the door locked behind him.

The elevator was near full when the doors opened to Garrus and he debated taking the next elevator for a moment when a foot stuck out to stop the doors closing. "There's room for you, it's okay," a woman's small voice said, drawing her fat child up to her stomach to try and make a space. Garrus simply nodded his thanks at the woman, and she returned his nod with a timid smile to match her fraying brown hair. Garrus almost felt bad for the woman when they exited the elevator on the ground floor and the child immediately began whining for an ice cream cone.

He noticed the lounge just ahead of him when he took the right out of the elevator, and took a quick glance at the reception desk. The blonde was pulling a key out of the glass box behind her desk for a couple with two large suitcases behind them. The woman was hanging on the man next to her, so Garrus knew the two were obviously together. Probably here on a vacation for themselves, to get away from whatever was bogging them down back in their homes. Garrus didn't think he came to London to escape his home and his problems, he just thought that everyone needed a week - or two - to themselves to do anything they wanted in any place they wanted.

Garrus entered the lounge area of the hotel, and his flicking mandibles accompanied his smile. It was a quaint room with tall, thin windows with filmy curtains that let in the last struggling rays of the sun behind the thick, gray rainclouds. There were a handful of small tables laid out in front of him, a few couches along the right wall with a television in the center that was currently playing a tennis match that no one was watching, and a small bar to his left with another handful of barstools. Garrus also took note of the stove in the last corner of the room for occupants to make their own tea. It looked cozy, a great place to sit and have a cup of tea or a beer after a long day of traveling or dealing with strangers in all situations.

There were a few outdated magazines on the tables in between the tennis match and the couches and with a lack of anything else to do, Garrus sat down and picked one up. He had rifled through about half of it and was in the middle of an article about a soccer player he knew nothing about when soft standing lamps in the room were shadowed slightly on his right. He placed a talon on the page he was on and flipped the magazine closed, looking up at the shadow on his side. It was the receptionist, and the smile on her face was as soft as the lighting in the room, making his mandibles flick as he set the magazine down on the table upside down. "That mag is four months old," she said.

Garrus stood and a smile spread across his face. "I have no emotional investment in tennis, so this was my only other option."

She glanced down at the upside magazine on the table. "What were you reading?"

"An article about a soccer player. Just something to pass the time. I don't really know anything about the sport."

She giggled, a high-pitched bubbling noise that sounded like it even had an accent. "You really are an American, aren't you?"

A plate above the turian's right eye raised. "What do you mean?"

"No one around here calls it soccer. All us Brits call it football."

"Ah, okay. Thanks for that."

"Of course. Now, before we go any further, you'll have to forgive me. I meet so many people in a day and I hardly ever remember them. What was your name again?"

Garrus' mandibles flicked. "Don't worry about it. Garrus Vakarian."

"Garrus. Alright. I'm Jayne. Jayne Shepard." She extended her hand.

Garrus took her hand and shook it. "Jayne. A beautiful name for a beautiful woman."

Her cheeks flushed a light pink color, just enough for Garrus to see it before she turned her face downwards at the hardwood floor. "Thank you," she said simply. When she looked back up at him, there was a small smile on her face. "Care for a cuppa?"

Unsure of what she was referring to, Garrus just replied, "Yeah, sure."

Jayne began to walk toward the stove in the corner and Garrus followed. "I don't want to brag, but I make a hell of a good cuppa."

"I'll have to taste it to believe it."

"You'll have to wait a couple of minutes."

"I think I can do that."

Jayne smiled again, turning her back to the stove and leaning on the edge with her palms. "So what brings you to London?"

Garrus shrugged. "Just a vacation. Extended vacation."

"But what made you choose London? You could've gone anywhere in the world and you chose here."

Garrus thought for a few moments, then shrugged again. "I'm not entirely sure. I guess I just wanted to go somewhere far different from home and see what it was like."

"You said you're from California, right?" Jayne asked, raising an eyebrow. Garrus nodded. "You could've achieved that by just going across the country. You didn't have to come across the pond."

"The pond?"

Jayne smiled as the kettle on the stove began to whistle. She turned and began to pour the hot water into the cups. Still not facing him, she answered, "The Atlantic Ocean. I'm surprised you don't know that one, I've heard quite a few Americans use that."

"Those must've been ones that live close to it. I don't."

Jayne turned back around, a cup of tea steaming in each hand. She handed on to Garrus, who had a bit of trouble trying to figure out how to hold the small cup in his large hands. Jayne masked her smirk in her teacup as she blew on the steaming tea. "Right," she said to him, still watching him fumble trying to hold the teacup. "Try putting a finger through the handle. That might help."

Garrus finally had a grip on the teacup with his hand around the opposite side of the handle, his front talon just poking through it. "I figured it out. Thanks though."

Jayne smirked again as she took a sip of her tea. "So?"

"I can't really say."

"Haven't taken a sip yet?"

Garrus waited a moment before answering. "Haven't had an actual cup of tea before."

Jayne's hands lowered away from her face and her mouth opened wide in surprise. She brought her hands back up to her face and took a sip of tea after a few long moments, masking another smirk. "You're kidding."

"I wish I was. Then I might have a better chance of impressing you."

Jayne laughed softly, the lighting illuminating spots on her face that Garrus thought were just absolutely beautiful. "Are you always like this?"

"Complimenting beautiful women?" She gave Garrus a look that said _That's exactly what I'm talking about._  His mandibles flicked in amusement. There was silence between the two of them, save the tennis match still on the television and the sipping of tea. "So how long have you worked here?"

Jayne looked up at him from over the brim of her teacup. "About two years."

"Two years at the same desk?"

"Mhm."

Garrus took a step toward Jayne and leaned over to place his empty cup on the counter behind her. She watched him in his approach and kept her eyes on him even as she sipped her tea again. He looked over at her as he stood up and she saw a faint glint in the piercing blue of his eyes. She again masked a smirk behind her teacup as she finished the last sip. Setting the empty cup down behind her, Jayne glanced at her watch. "Hell," she muttered. She looked back up at Garrus with a clearly apologetic look. "I'm sorry, but it's getting late, and I promised my best friend I would get home at a reasonable hour tonight."

"Now that's an interesting statement. From that I can infer two things. One is that you share a living space with your best friend, most likely an apartment, because that's how it generally works. And two is that you have a reputation for staying out until ungodly hours of the morning with...people. Or just yourself. And that opens the door up to a whole new set of interpretations." The plates above Garrus' eyes raised just slightly, as if expecting a reply from the surprised blonde woman in front of him.

Jayne just stared at him for a while. Not only was she unsure of how to reply to Garrus, but she was the slightest bit uneasy. He was able to pick out something about her that he didn't know the real significance of. And what made her uneasy is that she was willing to tell him about it, in time. "I'm not working on Saturday. Maybe I could show you my favorite lunch spot..." She pulled the edge of her bottom lip in between her teeth and let it fall back into place slowly. "And you can see if those interpretations are correct."

A slow smile appeared across Garrus' face. "You know where I'm staying. Noon on Saturday."

The clashing tones of his voice made the words said even more intriguing to Jayne. She nodded at him. "See you tomorrow." She brushed past him on purpose, her arm against his, and told herself not to look back at him as she walked away.

Garrus turned and watched her walk out the glass doors of the hotel, sighed, smiled to himself, and then walked out to the elevator. He was suddenly overcome with sleep, and had a hard time even keeping his eyes open in the short ride up to his room. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapters with titles aren't really my forte.


	3. telling stories

On her way back to her apartment, Jayne picked up her phone from her purse in the passenger seat when she was stopped at an intersection and situated the phone between her shoulder and her ear as the traffic in front of her began to move. The line rang three times before the woman on the other end picked up. "It's ten o'clock, Jayne. You either are in mortal danger or you have a really good story to tell me."

"Hello to you too, Amie."

"So which one is it?"

"I wonder sometimes how I put up with you."

"Because I pay the tab whenever we go out."

"Right. And you insist on not letting me contribute a bloody penny."

"By the tone of your voice, you're probably not in mortal danger. Where are you, anyway?"

"Driving home from the hotel."

"So you _do_  have a story for me!"

"Yes, Amie, and I think you're gonna like this one."

"I'm listening."

Jayne switched the phone to her other ear. "So you know how I told you that I was never going to get involved with a client when I took the receptionist job?"

"Oh my God."

"Shut up."

"Who is he?"

"Stop assuming, Amie."

"When you preface your story with something you told me two years ago, I can pretty safely assume that's what happened!" Jayne sighed as she made a right turn. "So who is he?"

"A turian."

There was a short silence in which Jayne imagined Amie was making an incredulous face despite the fact that no one was around to see it. "Really?"

"Yes, Amie."

"I never took you for a xenophile."

"Shut up. It's not like I'm dating him, I only met him today."

"Something still could've happened!"

"Will you relax? You're acting like I haven't been with anyone in a hundred years."

"You might as well have been. You make it seem like your last boyfriend was an absolute pisser."

"That's because he was, Amie, but I didn't call you to talk about him." Jayne's voice took on an icy quality as she turned onto her apartment's street and then pulled into the parking lot.

"Alright, alright, relax. Who is this turian? I think I can safely assume that you're planning to see him again." Jayne put a hand to her phone and sat for a moment for while Amie responded.

She then turned off her car and opened the door. She switched her phone to her left ear as she leaned back over the seat to pull her purse from the back of the car. "Yes, I made plans to see him for lunch on Saturday."

"Taking him to that little cafe a few blocks from the hotel?" Amie asked.

"The one that you showed me when I first met you? Yes, that one. It's a great little place."

"You will forever be thanking me for showing that place to you. And I think your turian will be too."

"He doesn't even know you exist, Amie." Jayne stepped out of her car and shut the door, switching the phone to her right ear and pushing it up between her ear and her shoulder as she fumbled in her purse for the keys to her apartment. "I really need to get a single keychain for all these bloody things," she murmured to herself.

"But he will! So what's his name?"

"You can meet him when you meet him. Right now, I'm going to go into my apartment and relay this exact story to Sarah."

"You've barely told me a bloody thing!"

"Because you've been busy teasing me about lunch spots and xenophilia! Maybe I'll phone you again after work tomorrow and perhaps you can listen for longer than five seconds." Keys in hand, Jayne walked up to the door of her apartment.

Jayne heard Amie blow out a breath in annoyance. "Alright, alright. Go get some sleep while you're at it. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Right. Bye." She clicked her phone off and dropped it in her bag. She opened the door and walked up the first flight of stairs up to her apartment door and inserted the key into the deadbolt. The turn of the thick metal piece back into the door alerted Jayne's roommate to her return, so Jayne saw the other woman's face as she entered the clean apartment. "Evening," Jayne greeted, smiling up at her.

"I thought you got off two hours ago."

Jayne smiled. "I did."

"So where were you?"

"The hotel."

"Working overtime?"

"Of course not. I can't take tourists for longer than I already do."

Sarah laughed. "So what were you doing there?"

"Meeting someone."

Sarah's jaw opened to form a surprised "o" and her eyes widened. "Who?"

"A turian." Sarah squealed and watched Jayne as she toed off her shoes and pulled her phone out of her purse before dropping it on top of her shoes. "Now get comfortable, I have a story to tell you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was much more of a character development chapter. more of these to come, and the "action" will continue soon.


	4. nervous beginnings

It was Thursday afternoon, two days before Jayne was to show Garrus one of her favorite lunch spots. Feeling brave, Garrus had ventured outside the hotel for some place to have breakfast, or something resembling it, since dextro-friendly restaurants were just a bit hard to find in California. He figured it would be even worse when he went overseas, but there were actually more dextro-friendly places than he thought, maybe almost as many as California. A lot of the places catered to both dextro _and_  levo customers though, while Garrus was used to simply one or the other. Garrus found himself thinking that if he ever had Jayne with him in California, he would take her to his favorite lunch spot, but then reprimanded himself because she would have no reason to be in California nor would she be able to eat anything there.

As he finished, he laid down enough credits to cover the small bill and include a tip for the food, because he had to admit it was good. Completely different than most things he had had while in California, and Garrus thought this might be a plausible excuse to come back, but then waved the thought away when he stood from the table.

Hailing a cab was not something Garrus was very good at, even after having been in London for two days. Then again, it wasn't like Garrus had gone many places in his short stay, and had a little time to at least try and perfect the art of hailing a cab. Once back at the hotel, Garrus figured he would pay Jayne a visit. He was sure that she would appreciate a friendly face in the midst of a busy work day. Well, mostly sure. He hoped that it was confidence that Jayne saw in him when he walked up the desk. "Hi, can I -" She glanced up at Garrus quickly, looked back down at the message she was typing out on the computer, then realized who was at the desk and looked back up at him, smiling. "Hi. Sorry, it's been absolutely crazy this morning." A nervous look crossed her face fleetingly.

"Don't worry about it. We all have days like these," Garrus replied, leaning on the side of the desk so as not to look like he was asking for help or a room. He already had the latter, and the former wasn't a type of help that Jayne could provide.

"I suppose. It comes with the job, I guess."

"Yeah." Garrus smiled, his mandibles flicking.

Jayne returned the smile with a much more playful edge to it. "Unable to wait for Saturday?"

Garrus' mandibles flicked again as his smile faded into a playful smirk. It seemed once he started talking to her, his nervousness seemed to fade and be replaced by the confidence he wanted to show before beginning to speak with her. Garrus only had a slight problem with that, and hoped that Jayne would find it at least somewhat endearing. "What do you mean?"

"Didn't you just come in from somewhere?" Garrus raised the plates above his eyes in a question. "I heard the bell above the door ring."

"If you must know, I was just out for a late breakfast."

Jayne looked at her watch. "I'll say. It's almost time for my lunch break." She looked back up at Garrus and smiled playfully again. "Are you doing anything in a half hour?"

"I'll have to check my schedule."

Jayne rolled her eyes, but the smile stayed on her face. "If you'd like, I could certainly use the company until my lunch break starts. And even after then too."

"I _am_  a tourist, Jayne." Garrus paused for a moment while he thought about how her name felt on his tongue. "While you are most certainly a wonderful sight to see, I was planning on seeing the main ones while I was here."

"I might've forgotten that you're not from here. Not sure what gave it away though."

"The accent, probably."

Jayne giggled, her eyes brightening as the bubbly sound spilled from between her lips. "That would be the lack of one." Garrus' mandibles flicked as she bit off the end of the sentence. "Or it could be the fact that you have a room here. Londoners don't pay for rooms in hotels, they pay for flats. Or houses, but that's much more common in the country."

"Flats?" Garrus asked.

Jayne giggled again. "Now you're sounding like a tourist. Americans call them apartments." Garrus simply nodded, a hint of a smile on his face. "As I was saying, if you'd like to keep me company for a little while today, it would certainly be appreciated." The smooth confidence instantly leaked out of her voice when she straightened up and added hastily, "Unless you have other plans today. Since, you know, you're a tourist after all."

Garrus tilted his head at her sudden change of tone. It was almost as if she was afraid that he would refuse her the company for a few hours. Garrus had a feeling he'd be seeing much more of this receptionist over his time here, and she was most definitely a much better excuse to return to London than the exceptional food. Leaning in closer to make up for the distance she had created between them, he said, "Jayne, I'm not going to refuse your company for a few hours." His voice was quieter than before, and he enjoyed the flare of color in the shell of her ears when he spoke her name again. Garrus leaned back to his original position and his voice returned to its normal volume. "Besides, I have another week to catch the best sights of this city." He wanted to do something else now, in the small silence in between playful responses, but he wasn't sure what he could do. Human customs were quite different from turian ones, and he didn't think the usual turian ways would help him court a human. Garrus smirked to himself when he thought that he should have figured this out two days ago.

A small smile appeared on Jayne's face, one that looked timid and nervous to Garrus, one that reminded him of a smitten schoolgirl. "Of course. Maybe you'll even have enough time to see some not-so-famous sights." She had trouble keeping the smile on her face casual, and an even harder time keeping herself from winking. She knew turian customs were different, and didn't want to risk offending this one. It would make the next week very awkward, and Jayne was not looking forward to the earful she would get from both Sarah _and_  Amie.

"Yeah." The word seemed almost forced from Garrus' mouth the way it was so drawn out. He wasn't sure if he was uncomfortable, confused, or a bit of both. Whatever he was feeling, it was neither good nor bad, and this showed on his face. "Let me just grab something from my room and I'll be right back down, alright?"

Jayne just nodded in response and gave Garrus another timid smile. She released a breath she wasn't aware she had been holding when the elevator doors had closed in front of him and leaned back hard against her chair. The resulting force rolled her back a few inches on the smooth tiled floor, but Jayne was much too absorbed in her thoughts to notice. _What am I doing?_  she thought. _This is nothing like me. I'm not the type to have witty conversations with turians and hint at possible sexual relations. Turians don't even have the same biology as humans, I'm not even sure that would work._  Jayne didn't notice the loud sigh she released as Garrus returned to the side of the desk.

"Jayne?" he called.

She turned her eyes up at him, her head following a few moments later. "Yeah." She smiled very briefly and glanced down at her watch. "Just five more minutes."

Garrus placed his hands on the small counter the desk made. "Are you okay? You seem...put off."

"I..." Jayne trailed off, unsure if she wanted to truly convey what she was thinking. If she really wanted to start something with a tourist from California she met two days ago, it wouldn't do to build a foundation on a lie. She took a deep breath as she stood up. "I'm not usually like this."

"What do you mean?" Garrus asked, watching her walk around the desk and up to him.

"I'm not usually one to be...doing all of this." Jayne rolled her hands around in the air, trying to resemble a familiar gesture of trying to find the right word. Garrus' brow plates had raised again as she searched the depths of her brain for her sophisticated vocabulary. "All of this...witty conversation. I'm not usually...being all forward and making vaguely sexual remarks and...all of this." She looked up at Garrus nervously.

He was watching her intently, trying to gauge the many emotions flittering across her small, smooth face. Without much thought, Garrus placed a hand on her forearm. "Jayne." His bright blue eyes met her shining green ones and held them. "Don't worry. I have about as much idea about what to do as you do. Turian customs don't really transfer well over to courting humans."

Jayne smiled. "Well it's good to know that I'm not alone here."

"Of course not. I'm standing right in front of you." Taking a risk, Garrus moved his hand down her forearm and took her small hand in his. It looked so much smaller inside his three large fingers. He looked back up at her eyes, bright with happiness, and she reached out and took his other hand.

She felt so small next to him, but she felt something else too. It wasn't something she couldn't pinpoint right away. Then, when Garrus released her one hand and they walked silently into the lounge, she realized what it was.

Safety.


	5. rain ruins everything

Saturday.

Jayne wasn't sure how her turian counterpart was feeling at this moment, but she thought she was able to safely assume that he was doing about as well as she was. And that wasn't very well. She stood in the shower for about five extra minutes thinking of ways today could go wrong.

The worst one involved her waiting at the hotel and Garrus never showing up because he forgot, but Jayne wasn't convinced that would happen. A fierce rap on the bathroom door returned Jayne to the present. "Jayne, get your arse out of that bathroom! I'm gonna be late for work!"

Jayne gave a sigh as she shut the water off behind her and stepped out of the shower. She grabbed her towels off the rack to the right and wrapped her blonde hair up in one and her body in another. The door cracked and Jayne saw an annoyed Sarah with a yellow towel on her arm and brown hair still styled from sleep. "Did you remember the fan this time?" Sarah asked.

Jayne smiled sheepishly, reached inside the room, and flicked the fan on. "Yes."

Sarah gave a sigh to match the deepening annoyed expression on her face. "Jayne."

"You're going to be late for work, remember?"

Sarah just gave another annoyed sigh and headed into the bathroom, the door just missing Jayne's butt as it closed. Though she had a smile when she rolled her eyes, Jayne made sure her one towel still covered her and she walked the few steps down the hall to her bedroom.

When the door shut, she looked over the outfit she had laid across her bed. Dropping her towel and picking up her underwear, she wondered if it was alright for a casual lunch date just out in London. _I need to stop worrying._  Giving another shake of her head, Jayne forced a small smile onto her face when she caught her anxious expression in her mirror and went about slipping into her outfit. She wouldn't admit to how long she spent styling her hair or applying her makeup.

The route to the hotel was so ingrained in her head that Jayne barely had to pay attention to her driving, except when there was a flare of brake lights in front of her at a small bout of traffic winding through the narrow roads. She enjoyed having employee parking when she pulled into the hotel parking lot. Peering up to the sky as she exited her car, Jayne hoped the weather would hold for a walk to the cafe a few blocks away. Canopy jumping was not on her agenda today, and she had spent too long on her hair.

"Thought you'd be waiting in the lounge," Jayne called to Garrus as she entered. Glancing up at the weekend's receptionist, she grinned and gave a small wave in greeting before looking back down at the turian.

He shook his head. "No, I'd be too tempted to take some sort of alcohol down to take the edge off."

A small blush crept up her neck as a nervous smile flashed across her face. "Glad to know I'm not the only nervous one."

Garrus stood and Jayne had to look up to keep eye contact. "Like I said, turian courting customs don't really translate well to humans." He was a little hesitant to reveal the next bit of information. "I'll...admit that I was up on the internet last night doing a bit of...research."

Jayne giggled and subtly inched closer to the turian. It did not go unnoticed by him and his mandibles flicked in a minute nervous smile. This little flirtation reminded Jayne of a smitten schoolgirl, and she wasn't sure if she was disapproving of it or not. She thought she had left this kind of thing behind when she left high school behind as well, but perhaps such feelings didn't transfer across species. Nudging Garrus, Jayne asked, "Ready?"

He raised a brow plate. "We're walking?"

Jayne giggled again. "Of course. It's only a couple blocks." Garrus looked unconvinced. "Garrus, it would take longer to drive there. London streets are small and utterly mental. Come on." Nodding out the door, she almost hooked her arm through his, but began walking before she could.

The sky had darkened in the few minutes they had been inside. Jayne peered up to the sky again and Garrus followed suit. "Are you sure it's not gonna rain?" he asked.

Jayne shrugged, looking up at the sky, then down at Garrus when she answered. "Who knows. It's London in the summer, it's certainly possible. Hell, I should even expect it after all the time I've lived here."

"Which is how long, exactly? Figured out I don't exactly know that much about you."

"Nor I about you, but I suppose that's what this is for, yeah?" Jayne looked up and over with a small, bright smile.

He returned the smile with a wide flick of his mandibles. "I suppose so."

She had some confidence from somewhere and reached down to try and twine her fingers with his. While she was looking at him, the frown on her face was unmistakable as they left the hotel parking lot. "Having trouble?" he teased.

She smirked and gave him a look. "Oh, shut up. I'm not used to my dates having three fingers."

"Among other things."

Jayne flushed and looked away from Garrus. "Yes. Among things," she murmured. He just chuckled, the sound accentuating his dual tones.

It was a few moments of traffic-filled silence between the two before Garrus spoke. "So what exactly is this place we're going called?"

"Bobby's," Jayne answered, perking up. "Simple name, simple food, simple place. And they serve both dextro and levo food. I checked."

"I appreciate it."

"How could I not? I'd be an awful date if I didn't and it happened you couldn't eat anything there."

Garrus gave a small shrug. "Yeah, that'd be true."

Jayne snorted. "I didn't think you'd actually agree with that."

"I think a lot of things about me would surprise you."

Jayne's eyebrows raised as they turned a corner. "Oh really?"

His mandibles flicked in the equivalent of a smirk. "Really."

Jayne returned a smirk of her own. "I'd have to say I'm intrigued to find out."

There was a pause in which Garrus wasn't sure what to say other than, "Good."

It was mostly silent before they reached the cafe, ducking under the canopy quickly as the first drops of rain began to fall. "Looks like we're not eating outside then."

Jayne giggled. "I'm not a big fan of the rain. Even if I have lived here my whole life."

"You never did answer how long that was, by the way."

"I go distracted by the whole two less fingers than me thing."

"Well I'm sorry I have two less fingers, okay? I'm not the one who created the species, don't blame me."

Jayne laughed, Garrus laughing along with her. "C'mon, let's get inside before the wind starts and we get wet anyway."

\---

"Okay, that was pretty damn good."

"I told you it would be! And damn you for not believing me." Jayne smirked as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms.

"It's not that I didn't believe you, it's that I had no proof. I'm a tourist, remember?" A brow plate raised above the turian's left eye and he gave a small flick of his mandibles to return the smirk.

"Oh, bugger." Jayne pulls her small purse from the floor onto her lap and places her wallet on the table. Garrus places a hand over hers before she drops her purse back on the floor next to her. She looks up at the turian with raised eyebrows that disappear in her bangs. "What?"

"It's on me."

"Garrus, no, I couldn't--"

His fingers squeeze her hand awkwardly, but she gets the message. "It's on me," he repeats.

Jayne just smiles and drops her wallet back in her purse and keeps her purse on her lap. "Thank you."

"What kind of date would I be if I didn't pay for the meal?"

Jayne just smirks before Garrus leaves a crisp twenty pound note under the salt shaker. Extending the hand that had shadowed Jayne's before, she took it and the two rose to take the small stroll back to Jayne's car. Unfortunately, it was now pouring rain compared to the spitting it had started when the pair had entered the cafe. "Bollocks," Jayne muttered, staring at the sheets of rain coming down.

"Spirits," Garrus said. "I didn't think it could _rain_  this hard."

Jayne giggled. "Welcome to London."

"Is that a mantra of yours?"

"You're a tourist, remember?" Garrus' mandibles merely flicked in a smirk. "Are you ready for the walk?"

"We're really going to walk to your car in this pouring rain?"

"We have no other way to get there, Garrus. And there's such a thing as canopy hopping to avoid the worst of it. It's a hit or miss really, unless you prefer splashing through puddles and getting soaked through just running to my car."

"Let's just get it over with," he sighed, shaking his shoulders as if to prepare himself for the aquatic onslaught.

Jayne gave a humorless chuckle and tucked her purse close to her side. "Keep close," she said, peering out into the soaked streets. "Rain like this doesn't bother most Londoners, and it's easy to get lost just going a few block the way the streets are. Feel free to grab onto something on me as long as you don't rip it."

Garrus took the advice and kept a light hold on the back of Jayne's shirt. "Ready."

"Just a warning, I can move quickly."

"Thanks."

"Let's go!"

And Jayne takes off into the rain, almost pulling the turian with her. He takes a few steps to get his balance and almost falls over, but maintains his hold on the back of Jayne's shirt, almost pulling her dow with him and making her trip violently over a large puddle. Her keys are out when the car is in sight and she unlocks it quickly, almost diving through the door she throws open and just as quickly pulls shut. Garrus ducks in a few moments later, dousing her passenger seat more than she'd like. "Sorry about the seat," Garrus says when he's at least in the car all the way.

Jayne shrugs. "That seat's been soaked by rain more time than I've been able to count. Don't worry about it."

There was a moment of pause as the pair caught their breath inside the now partially soaked car. "Not sure why I came in here now. I have a room."

"Yeah, but that requires you going out in the rain again."

"This is true. And I'd rather avoid that."

"You can come back to my place then. I don't mind taking you back here whenever you want. It's not like it's far or terribly out of the way for me. I work here."

"I was afraid I was going to sound too forward if I suggested it."

"I'm afraid _I_  sounded too forward just then," Jayne admitted.

"No, you masked it well enough in a friendly offer. Which I'd be glad to take you up on."

Jayne smiled and started her car, getting the air conditioning going to both cool and dry them off. "Fair warning, my flatmate might be there. She's working a half-shift only today, and I'm not sure if she'll stay out with coworkers and go drinking or if she'll come home and settle in with takeout and cheesy movies. There's my room in any case." And she can't hide the blush that creeps onto her face at the veiled mention of her and Garrus alone in her room with Sarah there. God, she'd never hear the end of it.

Garrus gave a low chuckle. "I'll keep that in mind. Just some place dry sounds good to me."

"Oh, bugger." She bites her lip and steals a glance to Garrus at a slow intersection. "There's not going to be anything for you to wear while your clothes dry."

"Damn," Garrus mutters. After a few moments, he shrugs. "As long as you have a large towel, that should suffice.

"Are you sure?" Jayne asks as she swings the turn onto the street next to a small park.

Garrus nods. "I've been through worse."

Jayne gives a nervous smile. "If you insist. I'll just be in some comfy clothes while we wait then." She pulls her car into the parking lot outside her complex, sighing. "Ready?"

Garrus gives a small sigh as well. "As ready as I'll ever be."

With a small chuckle that sounds almost tired, Jayne grabs her purse and nods toward her car door. "Come on. It's a quick trip if we run like before."

"Let's go."

Sprinting out of the car, Jayne locking it behind them, she keeps them out for a few unnecessary moments while she fumbles for her keys in the pouring rain. "Bloody hell!" she hisses as they practically shake off like dogs in the staircase.

"How have you lived her your whole life?"

"I'm not sure. You never really get used to the pouring rain like this. Everything else I'm used to."

"Shit." There's a pause as he waits for Jayne to start up the stairs in front of them. "You never did answer how old you are. Seems to me like you're avoiding the question."

Jayne smirks, but Garrus can't see it with her back to him as they ascend the staircase. "No, I just keep getting distracted. Dates with three fingers, pouring rain...I'd think that the city doesn't want you to know hold old I am."

"Do I have to guess?"

"I'd like to see you try." Keys jingle as Jayne inserts one into a lock a room two from the staircase.

"Twenty-four." The answer is almost immediate. Garrus had thought this over the other day.

She looks over at him as the door swings open. "That was a quick answer, but incorrect."

"I suppose I'll have plenty more guesses while the clothes dry."

"For a start." Another smirk turns up the corners of Jayne's mouth as she pulls the key from the lock and drops her keys into her purse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i kept wanting the chapter to end and it just kept going.


	6. the waiting game

"You have another guess?" Jayne asks Garrus as the pair stand just inside Jayne's apartment door for a few moments.

"Not really. That was the only one I had thought through the other night." Garrus' mandibles flicked and he looked away from Jayne as he realized what he just said aloud.

She giggled softly. "Don't feel bad about thinking about it too much. I find myself thinking about...well...you. A lot. A lot more than I like to admit to my flatmate." Her voice lowers and her cheeks flush as her mouth goes further in her words. She finds herself unable to look over at Garrus as well as she wrestles off her soaked sneakers.

"Perhaps I consider myself lucky I don't have anyone interrogating me on what I'm doing in London."

"You don't?"

Garrus shrugs. "No one's really bothering me while I'm out here."

"You're out here all alone?" Jayne's eyebrows knit together.

Garrus nods.

"Why?" Jayne stands up straight, most of her clothes still dripping silently on the carpet.

Garrus stands as well, smiles with a flick of his mandibles, and places a hand gently on her shoulder. "Why don't we discuss this when we're not standing dripping on your carpet?"

Jayne's cheeks flush again and her eyes dart to the hand on her shoulder. "Perhaps." She beckons as she turns down the hallway. "C'mon. A little water on the carpet will dry and it's not like we're prone to slip." She smirks down the hallway as she begins to walk toward the end where she and Sarah stash their miniature laundry room.

The door is hardly wide enough to Jayne to stand in, and she simply opens the dryer door and begins to peel off her socks. "Oh, bugger," she whispers, frowning. She shoulders past Garrus and halfway up the hallway again to where the bathroom and linen closet were. Well, linen closet to Jayne and Sarah was a wicker basket of clean towels in the corner behind the bathroom door. In any case, Jayne pulled two from the pile and tiptoed back to the laundry room, Garrus waiting by the jam, still dripping onto the tiled floor and carpet simultaneously.

"I suppose you'll need this. And perhaps just to be safe, you can duck into the bathroom to pull off...everything wet." No, she wouldn't admit how much a stripped turian intrigued her, but then again, the idea of a stripped human was probably just as intriguing to Garrus. At least she had something more than a towel to cover herself with.

And then Jayne had an idea that put a smirk on her face.

As she handed Garrus a towel and she slunk into the laundry room with the door closed, she grinned to herself as she began to peel off the rest of her soaked clothes. The laundry room wasn't really the ideal place to change out of anything with the slats in the door to let out the heat of the dryer. If he wanted to, Garrus could probably easily sneak a peek at Jayne through those slats. And Jayne found herself not minding so much.

Nevertheless, her back was to the door as she peeled off her shirt, the undershirt, her jeans -- which were ridiculously hard, and she even considered asking the turian's help for a few moments -- and finally, even her underwear. No, Jayne didn't even have the dignity of waiting around in her underwear covered by a towel; weather was relentless in such a way.

Throwing her panties in the open dryer, she grabbed the towel and wrapped it around her cold body just as Garrus knocked on the thin wood of the door. Turning and making sure the towel was adjusted to cover enough of her, she palmed the door open to see Garrus with only a towel around his waist; his chest was bare. "It's something I've seen human males do..." he murmured, not making eye contact with her. And his blue eyes only flicked up to hers briefly as he held out his soaked clothing. "And I tried to squeeze as much water out of these as possible."

Jayne smiled. "That's thoughtful of you, really." She took the clothing from his hand and threw it in the dryer, closing the door. She set the cycle and gestured Garrus out of the doorway. Stepping out of the way, Jayne adjusted her towel to make sure it was continuing to cover her and walked down the way to her bedroom. It was moments like these that made Jayne happy she was no longer in school with a roommate.

Garrus wordlessly followed her into the room, closing the door behind her with flicking mandibles. It seemed to him like a badly filmed porn vid from back in California. He decided that wasn't something he should mention aloud as he turned to Jayne sitting almost delicately on her bed. Her legs were crossed, her towel was tucked at a corner and beginning to slip to expose the pale skin of her breast. Her towel was tucked in to free her one hand, both being used to brush roughly through her rain-drenched hair, turned a darker blonde from the water. He merely stood for a moment, watching her, trying not to stare too long at the slipping towel.

"Jayne."

She looked up at him with raised eyebrows.

His eyes flicked from her face to her continually slipping towel and back up to her face.

Jayne looks down and notices the towel, makes a quiet surprised noise, and then pulls it up, letting her hair fall across her back in a series of half-brushed knots. Her face flushes bright red and she looks away from Garrus until he comes to sit down next to her on the bed. "I'll try not to stab your footboard with my leg spurs."

She giggles and pushes some damp hair behind her ear. "Thanks, I suppose."

"So how much time do we have until our clothes are dry?"

"About an hour."

"So am I free to make more guesses at your age?"

Jayne giggles again. "Go right ahead."

"My original guess was wrong, yeah?" Jayne nods. "I think you have to give me a hint."

Jayne gives yet another giggle. It was something Garrus did easily to her. " _I_  think it would be better if I didn't." She leaned back on her hands carefully, not wanting to expose her breasts anywhere near as much as she had started to before.

Garrus' browplates rose. "Oh really?" He felt his mandibles flick of their own accord. "As you wish." He paused again to think of another age she might be. "I'll start younger. Twenty-three?"

"You're good," Jayne cracked.

"That's what I've heard."

Jayne laughed, laying down on her back and stretching her arms over her head. "Really?"

"I can't argue with them; I _am_  pretty damn good."

Jayne merely laughs again. "If it makes you feel any worse, I've been told I have fantastic tits."

Garrus' mandibles flicker. "I'm not qualified to comment on the subject."

Jayne tilts her head. "You ever been with a human?" she asks quietly. Garrus merely shakes his head; Jayne hopes she hasn't freaked him out or scared him or something of the sort. She turns her gaze to her bare ceiling. "If it makes you feel any better, I haven't been with a turian before either. So neither of us know what to expect." She gives a nervous chuckle. "I have to say though, I didn't think they looked so good shirtless. Or whatever the hell you call it."

Garrus looked over at her, mandibles flickering again in a smile.  "We'll just stick with that."  Then something occurred to him.  "This is your room, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"So why don't you just put on some new clothes and give me back mine when they're dry?"

"Because I think that's unfair to you."

Garrus' mandibles flickered again as he smiled.  "That's...thoughtful of you.  Really.  But you could at least make yourself more comfortable by at least putting on some, uh...new underwear.  And then the towel.  Or a robe, if you have one."

Jayne smiled playfully at the ceiling.  "I'm perfectly comfortable right here."  She hums and closes her eyes.

Garrus, on the other hand, is warring with himself.  He finds himself immensely attracted to the way Jayne looks right now; the peace that is masking her face, the half-brushed quality of her knotted wet hair, the ease with which he could just...flick her towel off with a talon.

But he won't.  He has respect for the woman.  And he takes a deep breath and merely leans over and gently runs the edge of a talon across her face.

Jayne is surprised by the motion, but she's almost expecting it at the same time.  She opens her eyes and turns her head toward him, a soft smile on her face.  "Hi there," she murmurs.

"An hour, you said?"

Jayne giggles and rolls on her side, glancing down to make sure her towel is still covering most of her.  "Mhm."

"Plenty of time."  Without much hesitation, Garrus cups Jayne's chin in his hand.  She slowly pushes herself up to a sitting position, keeping her eyes locked on the bright blues of the turian.  Even sitting, he's still taller than her.  Leaning in, Garrus is hesitant now since he's not exactly sure how this kind of thing works, but he closes the gap between them and presses his mouth plates to her lips softly.  He can hear her exhale as the kiss elongates and it worries him slightly, but she reaches up and lays her arms across his shoulder, drawing him closer to her.  His mandibles flick, a small hum resonates through his chest, and he rests his hands across her lower back, wary of his placement but drawing her closer as well.

Jayne hums when they pull apart, that soft smile back on her face.  "We'll have to work on that."

"I think we have plenty of time."  The realization of what he's just said hits him like an air conditioner falling out of an apartment window.  And he's the luxury car parked right beneath the window getting crushed.  His face falls and his hands drop from behind her back, even looking away from her.  "Son of a bitch," he mutters.

Jayne realizes it too.  He leaves the upcoming Friday.  Six days is a short time to develop an attachment to someone, but...she's heard tell of long-distance relationships working out.  Those were across the country, and this...This was across an ocean  _and_ a country.  A little more difficult, yes, but...Jayne always liked a challenge.  She reaches up and runs a hand along the scar along what was the right side of his face, feeling the grooves and valleys of the tissue, still rough like the rest of him.  "Hey," she murmurs.

Garrus looks up at her, gloom clouding his bright blue eyes.  "I'm leaving in less than a week.  For California, no less."

"Hey.  It's alright."

"Is it?  How much closer are we going to get before I have to leave?"  He pulls his face out of her hand and looks away from her again.  "It's only going to hurt worse the closer we get."

Jayne drops her hand and returns it to the surface of the bed, but she doesn't take her eyes off Garrus' distraught face.  Looking down, she reaches for one of his hands and twines her fingers with his, still trying to figure out the best way to do so without it being awkward for either of them.  It's not going so well, and Garrus looks over when he feels her playing with his hand, giving a sad chuckle and just covering her hand with his other.  Looking up at her again, he says, quietly, "I just don't want to hurt you."

Jayne gives a hard blink and her tongue darts out to wet her lips.  Glancing down at their conjoined hands, she thinks for a few seconds.  When she looks back up at Garrus, she says, "We'll have to make the best of it then."  A sad smile turns up the corners of her lips slightly, and then the time sounds on the dryer.

Garrus' mandibles flick just slightly in agreement.  "Yeah.  The absolute best."

"Why don't we start with those clothes and we'll just stay in for a while, yeah?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i just had to add in those little angsty feels at the end. because every relationship has to have some angst in it. at least it was cute first, and it's gonna be cute later too!


End file.
